Lucky Day
by Zombiegait
Summary: Dewitt villager Lucky has always had bad luck, and to make matters worse, his birthday is the upcoming Friday 13th. Julie, a kind yet clutsy village girl, offers to help, but will his past catch up with him?
1. The Unlucky One

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Animal Crossing or any of the animal characters. A few characters of my creation shall appear as the story goes on, but only Julie takes part in this chapter.

A/N – Well, here's something I started way back in May and just got around to continuing. It's really started to pick up steam, so expect many more chapters. Here's the first chapter of "**Lucky Day**".

**Lucky Day**

Chapter 1 – _The Unlucky One_

* * *

"I knew I should've bought it the other day.."

A mummified dog moaned as he walked out of Nook's Cranny. He was disappointed that he'd missed the chance to get a shirt he'd wanted.

"It was there. Right in front of me. Why didn't I buy it..?"

He mumbled and groaned on his way back home, which was further away than he would've liked.

It had been like this since he was born. Always being the unlucky one. Missing out on celebrations, being left behind, losing items that were one of a kind, and moving into acres that were always so far away from everyone, that it felt like he had to walk a hundred miles before he'd see anyone.

Poor Lucky.

He'd lived in four different towns by then, and was already thinking of moving again. Each time he moved, he was unable to pick the acre he'd live in because all the others were full. That's what the Mayor had always told him, anyway.

He had reached one of the hills that led down to the southern portion of Dewitt, and could barely make out his house along the coast line.

"Lucky!"

Hearing his name, Lucky's head spun around, spotting a familiar face. "Julie!" he called, beginning to wave. But as he turned to face her, he caught his foot on a loose stone, or something of the like. In a split second after feeling his foot got stuck, he knew what was going to happen.

He fell forward, flat on his bandaged face. "Oww.." he whimpered. He sat up, and was startled by the sight of Julie right in front of him.

_'She's fast,'_ he thought, rubbing his head.

"Are you okay! I'm so sorry! I made you trip, didn't I? Sorry!" she rambled, apologizing so fast it sounded like gibberish to her animal friend. She bowed her head, not wanting to look at him in fear that he was mad at her. He wasn't, of course, but that was the way she was. Always blaming things on herself.

"Julie. Juuulie.. Julie!" He had to say her name several times before she quieted and looked up at him. "Julie.. It's okay, really. This happens all the time," he laughed. She offered him a hand, but he signaled that he could do it on his own. He stood up and brushed himself off a bit.

"So.. What'd ya call me for?" Lucky asked, as if he hadn't fallen at all.

"Oh!" Her ears perked up. "Yesterday, you said you saw a shirt you wanted. But you wanted to wait on it for a bit. Then it was my fault that you didn't get to Nook's before closing because I was bothering you with my silly garden.. So I went and ordered it from him, since it was in my catalog. And it came in the mail this morning!"

She held out a folded shirt before him. He stared at her.

"You.. You got me the shirt? I-I.."

"Take it!" she beamed, pushing it into his hands. "I got it for you, silly! Now put it on. I want to see what you look like in it!"

But Lucky just stared at her as she bounced on her heels, smiling as wide as her gentle face would allow her to. Only a handful of animals had been so nice to him, mainly because he was so unlucky. But she didn't care. And she was a human, no less.

"Julie.." he sighed, not braking his gaze at her.

"Put it on! I wanna see!" she giggled, poking him in his stomach playfully. He blinked, then shook his head.

"Oh! Right," he laughed. Spinning around, he changed quickly into the shirt. The new whirly shirt fit perfectly, and looked even better than it had when he'd tried it on at Nook's.

"Thanks, Julie. I mean it. Thanks a lot!" Lucky beamed, proud of his new shirt, and happy with the way he looked in it.

"You're welcome. This'll be my early birthday present for you, okay?" she smiled, walking around him to pick up a peach she spotted laying on the ground. "But don't worry. I'll get you a better gift on your actual birthday," she continued from behind him.

"Birthday present..?"

"Yeah. Your birthday's this Friday. The thirteenth, right?"

Lucky was shocked. He'd forgotten all about his birthday. And even worse news, it was on a Friday. He was born on a Friday. And it had come back to haunt him so many times before.

"Want me to through you a party?" Julie asked, returning to his side, peach in hand.

"No.. Parties are a bad idea," he warned, remembering one of his past birthday 'bashes'. "My parties never end well."

"Aw, come on. It'll be fun!" she smiled, taking a bite out of the peach.

"I really don't think it'd be a good idea, though.."

"You're just shy! And I think Portia has her eye on you," Julie giggled, eating some more off the fruit in her hand.

The very mention of Portia's name sent a nervous shiver down his spine. He'd had a crush on her since he moved in. And she came by his place every once in a while to check on him. She was so kind. _'Like Julie,'_ he thought. An invisible smile covered his face beneath the bandages.

"Alright.. Maybe a party wouldn't be _that_ bad," he laughed.

"I'll bet you're turning all shades of pink!" Julie teased. "Now come on. We're going back to my place to plan!" She shoved the rest of her peach in her mouth, then took a moment to chew. Grabbing his paw, she pulled him behind her towards her home to plan for his party.


	2. The Mean One

**Lucky Day**

Chapter 2 – _The Mean One_

* * *

"It'll be a blast, don't you worry!" Julie called, waving to Lucky as he left her home.

The planning had taken a while, and the sun was already setting by the time he reached his house. His worry about what could go wrong was outweighed by his joy that he was even having a party at all. Julie would help with sending out the invitations, and would recruit another villager or two to help on the day of the party to set everything up. Even though he was sure something would go wrong for him, he hoped she'd have a good time. She deserved it after all the effort she was putting into something that wasn't even for herself.

But it didn't take long for his slightly-hopeful thoughts to disappear as he heard the familiar throat-clearing sounds of his not-so-friendly neighbor. Lucky stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his head towards the source of the noise, dreading the face he knew he would see. Sure enough, Blaire the squirrel was glaring daggers at him from his own garden.

"H-Hey ya, Blaire..." he mumbled softly, though he managed not to give away his disappointment at being stopped by her.

"And just _what_ do you think you're doing?" she asked irritatedly.

Any passer-by that did not know what had transpired between Blaire and Lucky only a month ago would have been perplexed by her question. Lucky was not doing anything with a particular ill-intention or obnoxious attitude; he had been simply walking home, and was now talking to a squirrel that looked rather angry for no reason. However, anyone who had been living in the village for more than a month knew _exactly_ why Blaire's distinctly upset expression was aimed at an innocent-looking Lucky.

"... G-Going home?" he offered hesitantly after a long silence.

"You've been gone all afternoon," she stated, matter-of-factly. There was still plenty of anger in her voice, forcing Lucky to recoil slightly.

He was well aware that she disliked him. After all, he had nearly destroyed everything she owned during a sneezing fit after she had moved in and kindly invited him into her home. She was doing the nice, new-neighborly thing to do, and she literally had a hefty price to pay for it. Lucky being Lucky, he had run out of funds the previous day, and had no way of helping her pay to replace her belongings, and Nook was as insusceptible to stories of woe and misfortune as always when it came to profit. In an attempt to help her out, he offered to do whatever she asked for the next couple months – or until he could finally scrounge up enough money to pay for the damages he had done. This usually involved him taking care of her mail, watering her plants, and going grocery shopping for her. More than once, this had ended in him covered in mud and her being more angry with him at the end of the day. He was close to having enough money for her, though, and was slightly hopeful that this situation would be over soon.

And then he realized why she was practically seething right now.

"O-Oh dear... I'm so sorry Blaire! I completely forgot--"

"OBVIOUSLY, YOU BLOCK HEAD!" she shrieked. "YOU _ALWAYS_ MESS _EVERYTHING _UP!" He had taken to holding his paws protectively over his head, and she paused momentarily at his stance. Sighing, she shook her head. "You're costing me more even when you're trying to pay me back... That's enough. From today onward, I don't want you coming to my house until you've got every cent you owe me, _including_ what you've cost me after your 'little' allergic reaction. Once you pay me, _never come near me again_."

With that, she turned and headed back towards her house, which was two acres north of his own. Lucky watched her retreating back in silence, and after a good twenty minutes, dragged his feet along the ground the last few feet to his door. He promptly entered, dropped onto his carpet with a painful thud, and let out a loud groan.

He remembered precisely – now that it was too late, of course, he reminded himself sullenly – what Blaire had requested he do for her that afternoon. She had been paying Nook in installments, and this month's pay was due today. She had family visiting, and would be busy taking care of them until their evening train out of town, so she had asked Lucky to do it for her the previous day. But now that he had completely forgotten, she would have to pay him an additional thousand bells as a late payment fee.

He'd been too preoccupied with Julie. He should have remembered, but he couldn't for some reason. Not that he was blaming her, of course. The blame lay solely with him, and he'd have to live with alienating his neighbor even further.

His depressing thoughts were interrupted by a sudden knock on his door. Sitting up slowly, he glanced out the window and saw that night had fallen. No one would be coming to his door at this time, unless it was Blaire again, and with that thought he practically flew off the floor and into the door before opening it as fast as he could. Only, he was greeted by a sympathetic smile and a wallet courtesy of Julie.

"Julie? What... What are--" he began, but was cut off when she pulled him into a hug. He was confused, and very startled, but appreciated the gesture and waited in silence for her to answer him.

"It's all my fault."

"What? No! No, it isn't, really. Please, don't start thinking that--" he said immediately, pulling them apart and holding onto her shoulders to make sure she was looking at him. But she didn't seem to hear him, and her expression grew more and more miserable.

"But if I hadn't held you up all afternoon, it never would have happened! I know you and Blaire haven't gotten along great for... well, _ever_, but certainly things were repairable up until I went and messed everything up!" she cried. Before Lucky could say anything to comfort her, he was frozen at the sight of tears welling up in her eyes.

"No," he said suddenly, in a tone so forceful it surprised them both, "_I_ should have remembered. It had nothing to do with you. Okay? This isn't your fault. Nobody blames you but you, which is just silly. So promise me you won't be upset about this anymore, okay?"

She nodded slowly, a small relieved smile breaking out across her otherwise distraught face.

"And you shouldn't have seen that, anyway... Wait, why are you down here anyway?"

"Oh! You left your wallet at my place! I didn't see it until a while after you left, so that's why I got here so late..." she trailed off, holding it out for him. Taking his paws off her shoulders, he took the wallet and gave her a smile – though she couldn't see it beneath his bandages.

"Well, it's getting late, Julie. You should head back home. And if Blaire's still wandering around, I don't want her to spot you and take all her anger out on you. So hurry back, okay?"

"Alright. And you're _sure_--"

"No, it's **not** your fault," he insisted.

"No, no, not that," she giggled with a wave of her hand. For someone who took almost everything so seriously, she sure seemed quick to get over things, he noted silently. "You're sure you want to invite everyone – including Blaire – to your party?"

"Of course," he said without hesitation, "Though I doubt she'll come. I'm not mad at her. Obviously, quite the opposite."

"Okay. Only if you're sure. I'll hand out the invitations tomorrow, alright?"

He nodded, and with a wave and a big grin, she was gone.


End file.
